Quote:
Originally posted by Spanky
You should be deeply ashamed. Perot was against NAFTA. I remember watching Gore kick his derrier in that debate on CNN - I was living in Japan at the time but stayed up late to watch it. Gore got a few Gold stars for that. I was a big fan of HW Bush and a Clinton presidency scared the hell out of me. I thought it was going to be a Carter II. It was nothing of the sort. As Democrats go it could have been a lot worse.
Clinton did fight the fiscal prudence of the Republican congress, but he still let them balance the budget. The Health care thing was a fiasco but he did push through NAFTA and the WTO. Then much to his credit, and even after the Somalia Fiasco, he had the nads to bomb Serbia into submission. Even with the "Clinton is always wrong idiots" in our party griping from the Right and the pacficists griping from the left, he stopped Genocide without losing an American life.
He should have been impeached for perjury and witness tampering, but if he had been we would probably have President Gore right now.
I supported W. but was not sure what kind of President he would make. Although I have found his lack of fiscal prudence annoying (especially with farm subsidies that Ronald Reagon tried so hard to abolish), and his social policies (condoms cause AIDS etc) his courage has blown me away. He pushed through that tax cut to end the recession, he took on Afghanistan and Iraq which were both huge risks, and he took on Social Security. Before him no one has dared touch Social Security but he bucked the conventional wisdom and took it on anyway. When governor Romer was visiting the White House Clinton pushed a synopsis of the Chilean retirement plan under Roemer's door and then discussed it with him. Clinton admired the idea but decided instead to use it as a wedge issue against the Republicans. Clinton didn't have the nads to move forward with trying to reform Social SEcuirty, but W did.
In both cases these guys exceeded my expectations and so I just don't understand the deep seated hatred of either of them. I know they actually like eachother. Clinton has come to Bush's defense many times. I heard HW state that he was deeply grateful for Clinton coming to the defense of his son, even though he knew it would make trouble for his wife.
Bush is not stupid and he believes in what he is doing. There are reasonable explanations for most everything he has done. The same is true of Clinton. Clinton may have impluse control issues and like power but he also cares about the United States. They guy was a workaholic when he was in office. If you have read Woodward's Books you know both these men really care about the future of the nation., Both these men have taken moves that were clearly not in the immediate interest of the nation, but these were almost always political moves that, in their minds, even though they did minor damage, help keep the other party out of power, which in their minds would be even worse.
People that obsess over either Clinton or Bush strike me as polically naive.
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I agree.
Except about being ashamed about Perot. GHWB lied. I worked for Dole's campaign in 88. I saw people read Bush's lips and become brainwashed. And then lied. Plus he screwed the pooch on Iraq. Saddam should be going on his 14th year in prison now. I don't regret that vote one bit. Thank god his son has some resolve.
eta: I think Clinton was impeached, he just wasn't convicted, which was, imo, fully correct on both counts, although the Senate abdicated its duty to truly have a hearing on the matter.
